Prosecutors should not be allowed to retry Michael Slager for murder because a jury had apparently acquitted him of that crime in his first trial, his attorney said Thursday.

The defense team made the argument in asking a judge to dismiss the former North Charleston policeman's murder count in Walter Scott's shooting death.

From notes they sent during the proceeding last year and from follow-up interviews, lawyer Andy Savage said it was apparent that the 12 jurors agreed that Slager wasn't guilty of murder. But they deadlocked on the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial.

Savage cited double jeopardy provisions prohibiting someone from being retried for a crime they have already been acquitted of.

"The mistrial on the murder charge must be deemed an acquittal," he wrote Thursday in the motion, "thus barring reprosecution on that charge."

While the request is considered a long shot — particularly with thin legal authority for it — the case continues to show the difficulty of proving murder in Scott's death despite the stark video evidence that some say supports the most serious charge. Slager, 35, isn't set to be retried until August and, in the meantime, faces a federal proceeding on civil rights charges designed for the prosecution of officers alleged to have used excessive force.

He would face up to life in prison if convicted in either case of the most serious charge.

Former North Charleston, South Carolina, police officer Michael Slager, pleaded guilty today to using excessive force in the shooting death of unarmed black man Walter Scott, bringing a conclusion to the case two years after the police shooting was caught on video by a bystander.

The plea deal in federal court this afternoon will end the federal case and also resolve the state charges that were still pending after a mistrial was declared in Slager's state murder trial last year.

Slager's mother and Scott's mother both wept in court as the 35-year old former cop was led away in handcuffs.

Slager, dressed in a gray suit, said very little, answering "yes" to each of the judge's questions about whether he was aware of the various rights he was surrendering.

Slager's attorney, Andrew Savage, said in a statement before the hearing, "We hope that Michael’s acceptance of responsibility will help the Scott family as they continue to grieve their loss." [...] Slager was charged in South Carolina with murder and pleaded not guilty. The case ended in a mistrial in December 2016 and the retrial was expected to take place this year.

The federal trial had been expected to take place later this month. The federal court indictment alleges Slager "used excessive force when he shot and killed Walter Scott without legal justification," the Department of Justice said.

According to an incident report from the sheriff's office, Scott's arrest came after deputies saw an SUV parked in the middle of the road with no lights on shortly before 2:30 a.m. Saturday in West Ashley on Dunbar Street.

A deputy reports walking up to the vehicle to see what was going on, at which point the deputy said the driver (Scott) started the SUV and drove away. The sheriff's office says a deputy followed Scott, and performed a traffic stop.

Because Scott had driven away initially, the deputy reports ordering Scott to show his hands out the window once he stopped. The deputy says Scott initially obeyed, but immediately reached back inside for something.

Deputies had Scott step out of the vehicle and place his hands on the SUV so he could be searched for weapons. The deputy says he handcuffed Scott after Scott twice took one of his hands off the vehicle and reached for his pants pocket.

The sheriff's office says deputies saw an open container of alcohol in the SUV's center console. According to the incident report, a deputy smelled alcohol on Scott' s breath, and says Scott was "extremely unsteady on his feet."

A second deputy searching the vehicle found a marijuana pipe, and a search of Scott's pants turned up 0.2 grams of cocaine, in one of his pockets, according to the sheriff's office. Scott was then arrested.

During the hearing, the court heard testimony by Wilson and DuRant on why the grand jury was given a murder indictment rather than one for manslaughter, according to the filing.

Slager signed a plea agreement that allows Wilson to have an opportunity to comment on what she believes his federal sentence should be, the filing said.

"Such a request is virtually unprecedented in the Federal District Court of South Carolina," the filing said. "To insure that the Solicitor's comments are consistent with her previous sworn testimony, Slager requests that the testimony ... be unsealed."

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - New motions were filed on Friday in the case of Michael Slager the former North Charleston police officer who shot and killed a man during a traffic stop.

Solicitor Scarlett Wilson filed a motion requesting that transcripts of a pretrial hearing be unsealed. Slager's attorneys made the same request last month.

The former police officer's plea agreement allows Solicitor Wilson to say what she believes is an appropriate sentence for Slager on the federal charge.

Slager's lawyers say this is unprecedented and they want the previous testimony to be unsealed.The former North Charleston police officer pleaded guilty to violating Walter Scott's civil rights when he shot and killed Scott after a traffic stop on April 4, 2015.

In May, Slager pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge.

As part of a plea agreement, that guilty plea paves the way for additional federal and all state charges against him to be dropped.

The maximum penalties of the offense would be a prison term of up to life, a fine of up to $250,000 and five years of supervised release.

With former North Charleston officer Michael Slager on the verge of learning how much longer he will stay behind bars for shooting Walter Scott, authorities have scuttled a broader push for police reform ignited by the killing.

The U.S. Department of Justice late Friday abandoned an assessment program meant to identify faults in police procedures, recommend changes and monitor progress. Federal officials are expected to walk away from months spent since spring 2016 interviewing residents, observing police officers and analyzing agency policies.[...]Some advocates still look to an approaching hearing for Slager as the next reform milestone. But that could tilt in Slager's favor.

A presentencing investigation done in the four months since Slager pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation appears to initially support his argument for less prison time than federal prosecutors are seeking. As evidence of that view, the prosecutors objected to a draft of the report, while Slager’s attorneys did not, said multiple sources with knowledge of the process.

The document is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks and followed by a sentencing proceeding, possibly in October, attorneys said. It has not been made public.

When I was in the bidness, we ALWAYS tried to schedule trials in December. It is a myth that Judges and jurors have more of a "giving" demeanor. Looking back... it was never the case, but I always remember the hope this time of year.

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager will appear in court today for sentencing, and it's a hearing attorneys are saying will be no easy matter.

Those close to the case say what is often a quick process may turn into a miniature trial.

Former South Carolina attorney general Charlie Condon says prosecutors and defense attorneys still don't agree on how much time the man charged in Walter Scott's death will spend in prison. Prosecutors want a life sentence. Slager's attorneys say they want the sentence of 10 years.

Ultimately, the decision is up to the judge, but this is a situation where both sides are expected to call witnesses to back up their arguments. It's not something you see in most sentencing hearings.

"This is an extremely rare event in that typically at sentencing hearings, most issues have been decided," Condon said. "They typically only last a few hours, and that's even a longer one. This one has potentiality for lasting several days because there's a fundamental disagreement between the defense and really the probation department on what to call this.""This is an extremely rare event in that typically at sentencing hearings, most issues have been decided," Condon said. "They typically only last a few hours, and that's even a longer one. This one has potentiality for lasting several days because there's a fundamental disagreement between the defense and really the probation department on what to call this."

The sentencing, which was scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., could stretch all week.

Judge: Former officer Michael Slager will face 19 to 25 years in prison for shooting Walter Scott By Andrew Knapp, Brenda Rindge | The Post and Courier | November 7, 2017

[...]The family addressed the court after Norton ruled that that Slager will be sentenced on an underlying offense of second-degree murder for violating Scott's civil rights during the 2015 shooting that brought national notoriety to South Carolina. It carries a sentence of 19 years to 24 years, he said.

On the fourth day of the sentencing hearing in downtown Charleston, made the ruling but has not delivered a final sentence.

Norton had two options for the underlying offense that could affect Slager's penalty: voluntary manslaughter or second-degree murder. Prosecutors have supported the murder finding, which would expose Slager to up to life in prison. But defense attorneys said Slager was provoked into firing, making his actions voluntary manslaughter.

Thursday, Norton said Slager "acted out of malice and and forethought, shooting dead an unarmed and fleeing Walter Scott. Slager's actions were disproportional to Scott’s misconduct."